Medical NGOs Guilty of "Malpractice" in Arab-Israeli Conflict

New report reveals influential medical NGOs are exploiting their medical credentials for political purposes.

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Chana Ya'ar, 29/07/13 14:29

Sick Arab child, father at Gaza crossing.

Israel news photo: Flash 90

A new study released by NGO Monitor has found that several highly influential medical NGOs (non-governmental organizations) active in the Arab-Israeli conflict consistently violate their self-proclaimed moral principles.

“These NGOs, despite claiming medical professionalism, impartiality, and universality as part of their mandates, have politicized medicine, using the rhetoric of "health" as a means to demonize Israel and discriminate against Israelis,” charged the NGO Monitor watchdog organization.

The study, authored by Gerald M. Steinberg and Naftali Balanson, also demonstrates the roles of mainstream media and medical journals as facilitators and "force-multipliers" for the NGOs' political agendas.

"This report shows that many medical NGOs are highly active in the Durban strategy, formulated at the 2001 UN Durban Conference, which seeks to isolate Israel," NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg said.

"They are openly supportive of Palestinian political goals, and exploit their medical credentials as a tactic for furthering this agenda and the Palestinian narrative. However, we also note that there are NGOs such as MSF, that have tried to avoid such politicization."

"When repeating the NGO allegations, media platforms ignore the obvious politicization of these groups; the 'halo effect' of humanitarian groups exempts NGOs from the scrutiny that is applied to other political actors. Although officials from these medical NGOs have no legal expertise, their conclusions regarding alleged 'violations of international law' are repeated and accepted without question."